It's All Politics

10:17 am

Mon May 7, 2012

Some U.S. Conservatives See Obama In France's Hollande

President-elect Francois Hollande waves from a Socialist Party headquarters balcony in Paris Monday May 7, 2012.

Michel SpinglerAP

The election of socialist Francois Hollande as France's new president has leached into the U.S. election as some conservatives view it as giving them an opening to attack President Obama who, along with his agenda, has been labeled socialistic by many on the right.

U.S. Senate candidate from Florida, George Lemieux, for instance, took the opportunity of Hollande's win to tweet a warning:

"New president of France is calling for a top tax rate of 75%. America, see your future with 4 more years of Obama."

Meanwhile, the traditional phone call an American president makes to congratulate any new leader of a major American ally became cause for suspicion, as did the invitation Obama extended to Hollande to visit the White House before NATO's meeting in Chicago and the G-8 Summit at Camp David, both later in May.

Conservatives shared the link to an Investors Business Daily piece headlined "Obama vows close ties to France's Socialist leader" as proof that Obama was somehow revealing his true colors through such actions.

In an interesting twist, while some conservatives looking at Hollande saw Obama, some also saw a positive omen for Romney in the socialist's victory.

"... Although I doubt a presidential election in France has ever foreshadowed an election outcome here in the U.S., there are obviously some parallels between Sarkozy's situation and the electoral climate President Obama faces this year. While faring slightly better than France, GDP and employment growth have languished in the U.S. as well and unless the economy turns around dramatically, Obama is likely to confront the same sort of broad-based, voter discontent which was clearly a factor in Sarkozy's defeat...

"... With President Obama seemingly moving forward in the 2012 campaign with the same progressive ideas he's been touting since 2007, Mitt Romney seems well-positioned to capitalize as the candidate of real change in this race, with a conservative framework for ramping up economic growth and ratcheting down the federal deficit."

Copyright 2012 National Public Radio. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/.